That is what friends are there for
by Castiel-Fan
Summary: SPOILERS FOR GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 ! After the recent events and the fight against Ego, Peter feels more than bad. His friends also notice this, but there is hardly anything they can do to cheer him up. Until Gamora finally decides to ask Mantis for help...


_**First things first.  
I DON'T OWN GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY! ALL RIGHTS BELONGS TO THE RESPECTIVE OWNERS OF THE MOVIES!**_

This is a gift for a friend of mine on dA, who wished for a tickle story with Peter, Gamora and Mantis and this is what came out.  
And to be honest: The beginning turned out to be darker than I thought ugh.

 _ **Warning: A lot of fluff and cute tickles! And also SPOILERS for GOTG Vol.2!**_

 _And as always: If you are looking for fetish or even sexual content, I have to dissapoint you, because this is something I don't like at all and what I will NOT write! If that's what you are looking for, you will NOT find it here! If you don't like this kind of story in general, then I ask you kindly to leave, thank you._

 _ _I hope you like it and again sorry for grammer/spelling mistakes; english isn't my first language.  
 **And i would appreciate feedback in the form of a comment very much.  
Please don't be shy and share your thoughts with me. I won't bite you**.  
__

* * *

 **That's what friends are there for **

Peter was feeling bad.

Really everyone on the Milano could see that, but no one dared to say anything.

No.

They decided to leave the young man alone and to mind their own business.

Ever since the fight against Ego and Yondu's cruel death, Peter felt more than bad, even if he didn't want to admit that to himself. He tried to hide his grief, anger and desperation behind his cool facade, but his friends could look through this facade. Gamora, in particular, barely endured this sight, as Peter has become a very good friend to her as they traveled through the galaxy together and she was sure, that feeling in her heart, which she felt for Peter, was far more than just friendship by now. But she didn't say anything, hid those feelings from him as best she could and left it an unspoken thing between them.

But since Peter felt so bad, she felt her heart clench whenever she saw him so depressed. Then, when Peter thought he was alone. When he sat down in his quarters, put the headphones in his ears and listened to music for hours. At moments like these, when he thought he was alone and out of sight from his friends, he let his feelings go, gave in to his grief and more than once, Gamora had secretly watched him and when she had seen the tears running down his cheeks it had almost torn her heart into little pieces. A feeling she had not felt since an eternity. The last time she had felt that way, was when Thanos had destroyed her home planet, killing everyone, except her…

Today was again one of those days where Peter felt bad.

And Gamora couldn't stand it anymore!

Today, she swore to herself, she would help Peter!

No matter how she would do that, she would help him and tonight he would be wearing a smile on his face again. A real smile!

But she didn't know how to do that and thus she brought Mantis to help.

She had joined the Guardians after the fight against Ego, because she didn't know where else to go. And besides, she seemed to like Drax very much, for they spent a lot of time together, laughing a lot and just having fun. Gamora almost envied the two of them, because she wanted to have this with Peter too, but she herself hardly knew how to really have fun, let alone how to help someone who had lost just about everything he had ever loved. Peter had to watch how his beloved mother died in front of his very own eyes. Then his father had died in front of his eyes and then also Yondu, who had been like a _real_ father figure to him; unlike Ego, who had been a cruel monster towards him and his other children...

The green woman shuddered, as she remembered how they had finally found Peter in space and had brought him back on board. He was still clinging to Yondu, when he had been inside the ship, had been crying his heart out and he wouldn't want to let go of him anymore and in the end they had to drag him away from the Ravager's lifeless body.

His heartbreaking screams still echoed through her head sometimes…

She shook her head, trying to banish those thoughts from her mind and instead she went to Mantis and asked her if she could help her with Peter and she actually said yes, since she too had already realized how bad the human was feeling and she wanted to help him as well.

As Rocket, Drax, and the little Groot took care of their ship, Mantis and Gamora set out for Peter's quarters, and, as expected, they found the self-proclaimed Star Lord sitting on his bed, listening to music. He had closed his eyes and melancholy graced his face, as he let himself fall into the music.

Gamora moved slowly and cautiously toward him, placing her hand on his shoulder just as gently, making him wince and his eyes widened in panic as he opened them. But he quickly relaxed again when he saw Gamora and when he realized that he was safe, for it seemed that the fight against Ego wouldn't get out of his mind and he had become more cautious since then. Something that hurt Gamora even more, because Peter didn't even feel safe on the Milano anymore, after that cruel encounter with Ego…

But as soon as Peter realized that he was safe and that there was nobody behind him, who wanted to hurt him, he hid his feelings behind a grin, as he took the headphones out of his ears and switched the Zune off and carefully placed it onto the small table, which stood next to his bed.

"Hey, Gamora. Mantis. What are you doing here?"

The two sat down next to him, covering themselves in silence. Mantis to his right and Gamora to his left, and the two stared at him until it was almost scary to Peter.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked and he seemed to not like the whole situation.

"Peter, we have to talk."

Oh yes, if Gamora had that sound in her voice, then something was up and Peter would have liked to get up and leave the room, if Gamora had not put her hand on his shoulder and pushed him carefully but firmly down to his bed again, when he wanted to go.

"I don't think we have to talk. I am all right."

"Oh really? Are you? You can't fool us anymore, Peter. We all see that you are not feeling well."

The grin died on his lips and the young man narrowed his eyes, as he gave Gamora a serious and piercing look.

"I'm fine, Gamora!"

"No, you aren't fine! Why don't you want us to help you? Let Mantis help you, Peter. Please..."

"Pfft, what could she do?"

"I can help you relax and get rid of your grief," the empath replied and she was already reaching her hand out to him, but he quickly pulled his hand away from her, trying to scoot away from her as well, but only seconds later, he crashed against Gamora, who held him firmly.

"H-hey! Let me go Gamora! I don't want that!"

"But why not? She will help you, Peter! Just let it happen!"

Peter growled and fought vehemently against her grip, but Gamora was strong. A bit too strong for his liking, and he felt how she slowly pushed him back and down onto the bed. Mantis came closer and before he could do anything about it, she had put her hand onto his arm. Immediately her antennae began to light up and she closed her eyes, as she let herself fall into his emotions. Soon she grimaced, as a wave of anger and sadness rolled over her.

"I've never felt so much sadness and anger before..." she remarked softly and her words almost tore Gamora's heart into pieces. But she couldn't think about it for too long, because Peter growled again and squirmed like a worm under the two and tried to free himself and get up. He kicked his legs, but Gamora straddled his shins and pressed him down onto the bed with one hand. With the other she wanted to support herself on the mattress, but she missed it, because she kept her eyes on Peter's face the whole time and thus she couldn't see where her still free hand grabbed. Instead of the mattress, she put her hand onto Peter's stomach and slipped, as Peter squirmed under her again. As her fingers brushed over his stomach, the young man flinched and a strange sound came over his lips, that sounded almost like a squeak.

Gamora raised an eyebrow at that, because when she looked into Peter's face, she could have sworn to see a tiny little smile, which had only lasted for a few milliseconds. Or maybe she had just imagined that...

Meanwhile, Peter was still busy with trying to wriggle out of Gamora's iron-like grip and at the same time suppressing his grin, because when her fingers had been brushing over his stomach, it had hit him like a lightning strike. How long had it been since anybody had tickled him?

It must have been years by now and the last person, who had tickled him, had been Yondu, who had used his "weakness," as he had always liked to call it, for his own benefits, when he had found out that Peter couldn't endure being tickled. He was glad that none of his friends had found out about it yet. He didn't even want to imagine what would happen, if Rocket or Drax would find out about it.

But at that very moment he forgot about a very important thing: Mantis still had her hand on his arm and could feel every little emotion that went through his body and when he looked at her, he started to sweat, as he could see the knowing grin on her face, which told him that his emotions were just changing and slowly gave him away.

Crap!

Gamora also seemed to notice that, because she asked the empath what was so funny all of a sudden and she just answered, that she suddenly felt something she had rarely felt before. The last time, when she had felt such a reaction, was when she had still been with Ego and that day she had found out what it felt like when someone was being tickled and what kind of emotions were rushing through a person's body then. Even a strong and scary Celestial like Ego hadn't been immune to something as tickling and Mantis had felt that feeling with him only once, when she had found out by accident what tickling was. Afterwards, she had felt it a few times on some of his children, with whom she had spent some time with, before he had killed them...

But she didn't want to think about _this_ right now.

Oh no. Instead, she focused on Peter again and she opened her eyes and looked at Gamora with a small grin on her lips. After that, her black eyes turned to Peter and in this very moment he knew that he was screwed, that Mantis would now open her mouth and say something and thus give him away.

"Don't you dare!" he growled at her, but Mantis didn't seem to care much for the threat that resonated in his voice.

"He's ticklish!" the empath exclaimed with a little bit too much enthusiasm in her voice and Gamora raised her eyebrow and looked at her questioningly. Until...yeah, until it made "click" inside her head, because she vaguely remembered that word and the feeling that accompanied it, because she remembered that her parents had done this to her often, before Thanos had invaded her planet. Moments later, a knowing grin spread across her own face and the two women looked into Peter's now slightly flushed face, who was already swallowing and tried to sit up, but Gamora pushed him back onto the bed and held him down with one hand. She brought her other hand back to his stomach and she watched with pleasure, as the young man pressed his lips together and tried to twist away from her hand. But as soon as Gamora's green fingers touched his belly, he jerked again and his lips began to tremble, as the warrior curled her fingers on his belly surface.

"D-don't!" he pressed out between clenched teeth, but none of the two women responded to it. Gamora moved on and Mantis closed her eyes again, as she let herself fall into his emotions. She could feel how the grief and his anger slowly disappeared and gave way to a very different feeling: joy.

And no matter how much Peter tried to resist it, he couldn't stop himself from giggling here and there, as Gamora's fingers moved under his shirt and walked teasingly over his bare skin. He jerked and writhed beneath her like a worm on a hook and his hands grabbed Gamora's, but he didn't manage to push her away. Long gone memories shot through his head. He saw his mother, Meredith, and how she pressed him into the grass of a lush green meadow and tickling him, until he rolled around, laughing his little heart out, as his mother chased after him, while laughing herself. And he saw Yondu, leaning over him with a slightly evil grin and shining eyes and how he dug his tickling fingers into his belly and his sides, tickling him until tears rolled down his flushed cheeks. But Peter had always had his fun with these silly games, because neither his mother nor Yondu had ever exaggerated it. No. They had done it gently (okay, Yondu not all the time, but he had been trying to be gentle most of the time...) because they secretly knew Peter was having fun with it and he was sure, that Mantis now knew his little secret too, as his emotions betrayed him here.

"I feel joy. Very much joy... ", the empath remarked and Peter could clearly hear from her voice how amusing she found the whole thing and soon she decided to join in the fun. She left one hand lying on his arm, the other was attacking his ribs and when she dug her fingers into the fabric of his thin shirt and also began tickling him, he could no longer hold back his laughter. He began to squirm wildly under the fingers of his two friends, tried to kick his legs out and he arched his back, as Gamora's fingers found the sides of his stomach, which made him squeal with laughter, because this was one of his weak spots.

"Gamora! Mantis! P-pleahahahase! Stohohohop it!" he pressed out between his fits of laughter, but neither of his friends paid attention to his plea. On the contrary, because it spurred them on to continue and to find all those little places, where he was ticklish and which made him squeal with laughter. And he really did have many of them: The sides of his stomach, a small spot above his ribs, his knees, and especially the back of his knees, on his toes and whenever Mantis or Gamora managed to shove a hand under one of his arms, it was all over for the self-proclaimed Star Lord.

Soon, Peter rolled over the bed, laughing with much joy and Mantis and Gamora were chasing after him, laughing as well and they dug their fingers into all places that they knew that he was ticklish there. No matter how much Peter curled up and tried to protect his ticklish spots with his arms, they always found gaps that allowed them to wind their fingers through or they simply attacked his bare feet or legs, when he protected his upper body.

Two against one…how unfair…

Peter tried to muffle his loud laughter by pressing his already red face into his pillow, because he didn't want that the others would be lured by those sounds and find out his secret as well. It was bad enough that Mantis and Gamora knew it now. He definitely wanted to avoid that Rocket or Drax would find out too. He didn't even want to imagine what would happen then…

"Cohohome ohohohon y-you twohohoho…AH! NO!...s-stohohop thahahaht! Pleahahase! Thahahat's sohohoh nohohot fahahahair!" he begged and slowly he became desperate, but neither Mantis, nor Gamora listened to his plea. They continued tickling him, laughing along with him and just getting lost in the joy and the warmth of their friendship.

The whole game continued, until the two women decided that it was really enough, because at some point they could see how tears rolled down his flushed cheeks and that told them that he really couldn't take it anymore.

When they pulled their hands away from him and sat back beside him, Peter still laughed. He lay on his side, arms wrapped around his stomach and his eyes were closed. When he realized that they had stopped, his laughter died down to soft giggles and he turned back onto his back and wiped mirthful tears from his eyes, before opening them and looking up at the ceiling. There was still that big grin on his lips and when Mantis gently put his hand onto his arm again, she grinned, as she still could feel the pure joy in him.

"That was really mean of you two..." he grumbled when he had finally stopped laughing and he gave the two a fake evil look.

"You better not tell anybody about that, is that clear?"

The two women grinned at him.

"And what if we do it anyways?" Gamora challenged him with sparkling eyes and a slightly evil grin on her lips.

Peter returned the grin and in response, he wrapped one arm around Gamora and the other around Mantis and he pulled them down so that they landed next to him.

"Because otherwise I'll do that!" Peter laughed and he wiggled his fingers on their bellies and tickled them back.

Soon the laughter of the three friends filled the small room yet again and all the dark thoughts, all the grief and all the pain were forgotten for a short time.

Only laughter and joy reigned on that day and Peter was so grateful that these two had managed to cheer him up and make him laugh again.

"That's what friends are there for," Gamora had said, when the three of them were lying on the bed, completely out of breath, staring at the ceiling.

And at that moment, Peter realized how happy he was to have such friends around.

No, they were already more than just his friends.

They were his family.

And he would always love this family and he would protect them, no matter what would come in the future.

He swore this by his life...

 **The end**


End file.
